


I've Known the Warmth of Your Doorway

by ver_ironica



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Drinking, F/M, Gender-Neutral Apprentice (The Arcana), Smut, but don't we all, but has female equipment, semi-public teasing, the apprentice has a bit of a glove kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:53:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26654725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ver_ironica/pseuds/ver_ironica
Summary: The apprentice needs a break from the stress of the palace, and seeks out a relaxing night with Julian.
Relationships: Apprentice/Julian Devorak
Comments: 4
Kudos: 98





	I've Known the Warmth of Your Doorway

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all, this is my first fic in this fandom, please let me know if you like it! 
> 
> Title is from It Will Come Back by Hozier
> 
> The apprentice isn't referred to by any gendered pronouns, but uses afab language about their body.

The windows of the Rowdy Raven emitted a soft yellow light onto the wet cobblestone. It was raining, and I hugged myself as I sprinted in the doors, my thin palace finery not nearly warm enough. Where it had been cold and empty on the streets of Vesuvia, the bar was packed, hot and full of jostling bodies and Salty Bitters on trays. 

I was meeting Julian tonight. I searched the crowd for familiar auburn curls. Finally, my eyes land on him, in the back corner at a table, and I hurried through the packed pub. 

He was holding a tankard of Salty Bitter and looking broodishly into it. 

"You can't tell me you're already diving into some self-loathing, Julian," I said with a hand on my hip. 

He looked up at me and gave me a smile. "No, ah--just thinking," he said, and he raked a gloved hand through his hair. He gave a quick glance up and down at the delicate outfit Nadia had commissioned for me. "I was worried you wouldn't make it."

I raised an eyebrow at him as I slid into the booth. "Where would I be instead?"

Julian gave a breathless laugh. "You could be in the palace right now, and you would rather be here, in this place?" 

"I happen to enjoy talking to you, Julian," I said. With that, a blush brightened the tops of his cheeks. It was so easy to make him blush, and it always filled my chest with butterflies. “And I don’t want you to feel like you don’t deserve a fun night. Brooding isn’t a good look on you.”

“I am more of a dashing rogue type, aren’t I?” he agreed with a raised eyebrow and crooked grin. 

“That’s more like it,” I said. “Now let’s relax.” I waved over a server with a tray of Bitters and grabbed one and drank greedily. I didn’t stop until I’d downed most of it, and only to meet Julian’s eyes. 

His gaze flicked away from where he’d been staring widely at my throat. “You, ah, thirsty?” he asked. 

I laughed and finished the rest of the drink, slamming it down to the table with a relieved sigh. “You don’t even know the half of it. The palace is so beautiful, and I know I’m needed there right now, but if I have to politely sip another dry wine I’ll lose it.” 

“A bracing Bitter is good for the body and the mind, I think,” Julian agreed. “I’m sure the Countess would give you something stronger if you asked.”

“I know, but I need a clear head there, for solving this murder,” I said. 

“How do you know the answer isn’t right in front of you?” Julian asked quietly after a moment. 

I rolled my eyes and groaned, waving over another server. “Julian, please, love, with all due respect, shut up. You’re not the murderer, we’ve been over this, and we've found plenty of evidence that it’s not you.”

Julian withdrew into himself as I snapped at him. I softened, and as the server approached, I thanked her and grabbed two drinks off her tray, sliding one across the table to him. 

“I’m sorry for snapping, Julian. I just can’t stand to see you feel so poorly of yourself, even a past version of you that you don’t even remember clearly. Please, can we please just enjoy the evening? Vesuvia has its problems, but it’s nice and warm and easy to ignore them here.”

With that Julian gave a relinquishing smile, and nodded, and we toasted before downing our second round of Salty Bitters. 

“So are you just using me for a distraction, darling?” Julian asked with a sharp grin. 

I nodded, utterly serious. “Absolutely. I can think of no better entertainment. We should go do something tonight.”

Julian’s eye lit up and he raised an eyebrow. “What are you thinking?”

“I don’t want to cause too much trouble,” I said thoughtfully. “And I want to relax. Is there a play happening today?”

He tapped a gloved finger against his chin and hummed. “I think so, but we may be late.”

I gave him a grin and polished off my drink. “Let’s go, then.”

Something sparkled in Julian’s eye, and I knew I wanted to keep encouraging him. We paid for our drinks at the counter and then headed out into the cold night. 

Out on the wet streets, I gave an involuntary shiver, pulling my barely covered arms around my chest. Julian noticed and quickly ducked out of his long over coat and draped it over my shoulders before I could protest. 

“Thank you, Julian, but you didn’t have to do that,” I said, even as I snuggled into his huge coat. 

“It looks like in addition to depriving you of a fun time, the palace also forgets to provide clothing for the weather,” Julian said, his eyes looking down at my thin finery under his coat, before remembering himself and looking away quickly, cheeks pink. 

Nadia definitely knew how to play up my best assets with the clothing she had made for me. 

And maybe around Julian I allowed the top of my sheer tunic to fall a little off my shoulders and give my chest some more visibility. I gave him another grin as we moved through the alleys to the back of the theater. 

We slipped into the crowd, and I grabbed at his hand to let him pull me through the rows to the back. When we settled into our seats, I made sure to press our arms together, and shivered delicately. I couldn’t help flirting outrageously around him.

“Still cold, darling?” he whispered. I nodded pitifully. He opened his arm, an invitation for me to snuggle into his chest, which I accepted gratefully. 

He smelled warm and of spices, carrying around the ambiance of the Rowdy Raven and Mazelinka’s house. He smelled like comfort and a good time. The past few weeks I’ve really found myself drawn to him and wishing nights like this happened more often. 

As we watched the actors dance around on the stage, I couldn’t really focus on what was happening, not only because we crashed halfway through, but because my attention was solely on Julian’s chest moving beside me, and the gentle way his hand laid against my arm. His hand made its way underneath his coat around my shoulders and began to graze the bare skin of my forearm, sending gooseflesh up my arms.

I glanced up to his face, drinking in his sharp features and thin lips that were pursed in concentration watching the play. I was struck, not for the first time, with the unbearable urge to kiss him. 

But this time, I let myself. 

I placed a hand on his cheek, and he turned to me. I glanced at his lips and tilted my head, a question. He leaned into me, a response. I kissed him, and he tasted so sweet and hot, igniting desire within me immediately. 

But even after having a couple drinks, I wasn’t about to make-out with him in the back of a theater like teenagers. I pulled back and looked at him coyly, raising an eyebrow. 

His face was flushed bright red, nearly glowing in the dark. “This, ah, it’s not that sort of play, darling—” he sputtered. 

I stifled a laugh, and indulged my desire once more for another kiss, which he returned, with the quietest sigh of contentment. 

“Can we spend more time together afterward tonight, Julian?” I asked him. 

He swallowed and nodded fervently. His other hand that wasn’t around me was gripping the armrest like it was the only thing tethering him here. 

I let my eyes rove over him greedily, enjoying that he was getting just as worked up as I was. I carefully, casually, let my hand drift over onto his thigh, and began running my hands up and down him. 

The arm around my shoulders squeezed, encouraging me. Teasingly, I let myself climb higher and higher with each motion, nearly grazing where his cock was in his pants. Each time I moved closer, his breathing came quicker, before I innocently moved my hand away once more. 

Finally, my hand traced over something hard, and Julian gave a jolt in his seat. “Darling, I—” he gasped out in a panicked whisper. 

I gave him mercy and dragged my hand back to the safer top of his thigh. But I leaned in to kiss his neck. “The play’s not finished yet,” I whispered hotly against his skin. “Why are you already so worked up, Julian?” 

He gave a helpless shudder in the dark, the hand holding me tightening in desperation. “You said you didn’t want to cause too much trouble tonight,” he said. “Darling, if this isn’t trouble, I don’t know what is.”

I gave a gentle bite at his neck, and his breath stuttered. “You can’t blame me for this, for how good you look tonight. That’s on you, love.”

His eye rolled upward before he closed it, expression almost pleading. “Roguish and dashing, eh?” he said, but rather than suave, it came out helpless. 

Neither of us were watching the play any longer. 

It felt like an eternity for the actors to finally pour out onto the stage and bow to the audience’s uproarious applause. I honestly couldn’t say if it was any good, but still clapped politely. 

I yelped as Julian grabbed my arm mid-clap and pulled me out of the theater, his long legs pulling us ahead of the leaving crowd. 

He led me out the backstage route and into the alley. Luckily, the rain had stopped, though it was still cold and damp. My hot breath fogged in front of me. 

“In a hurry?” I asked him, before gasping as he pressed me against the bricks. 

He pushed his lips to mine hungrily, and I couldn’t help the whine that escaped my throat. His tongue grazed my mouth, and I opened to him, letting him in eagerly. His tongue swirled in my mouth, hot and needy. He ground his hips against my leg, pinning me, his arousal hard and obvious, and I moaned.

He pulled back sharply, leaving me panting and light-headed. My knees grew weak at the arousal in his gaze. If he hadn’t been holding me to the wall, I would have slid to the ground. I felt sheepish now, all my confidence from the darkness of the theater evaporating under his stare. 

He made a wicked smile at my expression. “You’re all talk, aren’t you, darling?” he said. 

I could only nod helplessly. “Can we go somewhere?” I shivered, the cold of the brick cutting through the haze of arousal. 

“Your shop’s not far from here,” he hedged. 

I laughed softly. “Only if you don’t mind Asra being there.” 

To my surprise, Julian gave a little shudder, before looking away, blush somehow deepening further. I’ll need to keep that in mind for later. “I—um, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” 

“I’ll ask him to leave, then. He owes me, several times over,” I said. “Let’s head that way. Please, love, I need you.” 

Julian gave me another desperate kiss, and then followed my lead down the cobblestone streets. I kept his jacket pulled on, buried in the mountain of fabric. Soon, but not soon enough, we were at the doors of the shop. I fumbled with my key for a moment, before finally opening the latch. 

The door opened to a surprised-looking Asra behind the counter, cleaning up after a long day in the shop. “Oh, I didn’t know you’d be back tonight,” he greeted me with a warm smile. Then he noticed Julian behind me in the street. 

He gave me a knowing smile, taking in our flushed faces. He breathed a laugh. “You know what, I think I just remembered I have somewhere to be tonight.” He pulled on his shawl and hat, and slipped past us outside, patting Julian on the back as he went. 

I couldn't help smiling. Julian just looked embarrassed, pressing a gloved hand to his face with a groan. 

I wouldn’t have any of that. I pulled him back down to me for another kiss, like I needed him to breathe. “Upstairs?” I begged into his mouth. 

He groaned a wordless “yes,” and I tossed his coat off my shoulders to hang on the coat rack. He slid off his overshirt, leaving him in his white cotton shirt, loose over his chest. We made our way up the stairs, and we nearly made it to the bed before he pressed me to the wall of the bedroom.

“Darling, is this okay?” he asked, his pupils dark and searching. “I want you, more than anything.”

“Yes, Julian, please,” I said, and moaned softly when he kissed me again. 

I reached down and rubbed his cock through the fabric of his pants. He had softened a bit from the cold and the time it took to get to the shop. But under my touch, I could feel him stiffening again. He gave a startled gasp, grinding into my touch. 

“So needy,” I said breathily, moving my hand along his length. 

“And who’s fault is that?” he said lowly in my ear. His teeth grazed my neck, and all bravado left me. “Trouble.” 

“Please, love, I—” 

He shushed me with a kiss, cutting me off. “No more of that begging. You got yourself into this,” he said darkly. “Now hurry up and undress, darling.” 

I had no idea Julian could be so demanding, and it set me on fire. I pulled my belt loose, untied the colorful sash on my hips, and kicked off my delicate shoes, finally tugging my tunic off over my head, tossing it to the floor, wearing a light shift underneath. I hadn't realized how much I would regret all the layers of this palace outfit.

With a groan, Julian pressed a kiss to my collarbone, breath hot against my bare skin. His hands slid from my arms to my sides, to my chest. I moved to pull my shift off as well, sliding the thin fabric down off my shoulders to the floor. 

“You’re so beautiful darling,” Julian murmured into my ear. He kissed at my neck, giving intermittent soft bites as he went. “So beautiful. I need you naked, darling. Now.” 

I nodded and shivered as he gave a particularly rough bite. “Julian—” I gasped. I tried to even out my breathing, and pulled off my final layers of undergarments, falling softly to the floor. I shuddered in his hands as I stood naked against the wall, him still clothed and gloved against me. The roughness of his clothing grinding against me had me groaning. 

“That’s it, darling,” he encouraged. He kept me pinned with his left arm, and put his right hand up to his mouth, using his teeth to tug off his glove.

I nearly combusted into flame at the sight. 

“You’re dying for it, aren’t you, darling?” he teased, dropping the glove to the floor. “Should I make you wait any longer?” 

“Please, no,” I gasped, unable to form a full coherent sentence. 

His eye darkened, and he gave me a wolfish grin. “Gods, you’re desperate,” he said. “So beautiful.” He trailed his bare hand against my stomach, then against my thigh, and finally dipped into my dripping cunt between my legs. 

I cried out a high moan of his name, weak at the relief of finally being touched. He groaned, and swallowed my cry with his lips, his tongue swirling into my mouth. His finger moved inside me, searching for the right angle—

“Ah! Love, please,” I gasped, breaking away from his kiss. 

I spread my legs wider, relying on him to hold me up. He responded to my cry by adding a second finger, and moving faster, rubbing roughly over the sensitive spot inside. 

“ _Fuck_ , I—" 

He pulled away abruptly, and I let out an embarrassing whine. Before I could protest, he picked me up in a princess carry, and set me down roughly on the bed. All the words I might’ve said died in my throat at being so easily man-handled. 

“Darling, if you keep making those pretty noises, I won’t last,” he warned as he climbed on top of me, kicking off his shoes carelessly, tugging off his other glove. His mouth reclaimed mine, and he bit at my bottom lip, making me groan. His hands roved my body, and I felt delicate framed by his long arms. 

I ground my hips up, desperate for friction, something to fill me. All I could do was beg. “Please, Julian, please, I need your cock, ah, please—” 

“Almost there, darling, I’ve got you,” he soothed, and the affection in his voice made tears spring in my eyes. He unlaced his belt and unbuttoned his pants, and pulled out his hard cock. “Is this what you want?” he asked as he lined himself up to my entrance. 

“Yes, love, _yes_.”

With a moan, he pressed himself into me. My wet cunt stretched easily, letting him slide in fully in one long motion. I cried out, high and wantonly as he buried himself inside me. He shuddered and moaned my name into my ear. 

“Please, Julian, I need you to— _ah_ ,” I panted, as he moved his hips back and rocked them into me. 

He took up a steady pace, slowly pumping his hips back and forth. I needed it faster, I needed the bed shaking, I needed more. I gave a wordless cry of pleasure and desperation. 

“I’ve got you, darling,” he said again, his voice breathy and low. 

He finally, finally, went faster, and I was hardly able to breath between my cries of his name, and “yes.” 

“So beautiful, absolutely ravishing,” he moaned, and openly kissed my neck, licking and biting his way down to my collarbone. 

“Harder,” I tried to demand, but it just came out pleading. I scratched my nails into his clothed back, trying to convey my desire, and he gasped at my roughness.

“You’re— _uhn_ —in no position to tell me that, darling,” he moaned. But he went faster anyway, much to my delight and relief. 

I was getting close, and my cries got even higher as I tightened around him, making him let out an obscenely high gasp. “ _Darling_ , you’re so tight, so beautiful, _ah_ , so good—I—” 

His litany of praise grew broken and ragged as his hips pumped faster and harder into me. I wrapped my legs around his hips, pulling him deeper and rougher into my hot cunt, moaning as the bed rocked underneath us. 

“I—darling, _fuck_ , can I—I’m almost—” he cried out brokenly. 

“Yes,” I groaned, and I leaned up to pull his lips to mine once more, breathing in his gasps. I took a hand away from his back and reached low between us, finding his tight balls and rubbing them gently. “Yes, please, Julian.” 

His hips stuttered against me, and with a few more desperate thrusts he came, hot and fully inside me. I cried out as I finished as well, my orgasm bringing pleasured tears to my eyes. 

We stayed locked together for a few moments, our ragged breathing filling the room. I gave him a sloppy kiss, my tongue moving into his mouth as a thanks for this amazing fuck. He gave a breathless laugh and returned the kiss as he slid out of me, my cunt hot and leaking his spend, and I gave a contented sigh. I blinked, and a few of the tears in my eyes ran over my cheeks. 

Julian noticed and looked alarmed. “Oh, darling, I’m sorry, did I hurt you?” 

“No, love, no,” I said. “Those are tears of pleasure, I promise you.” 

He sat up, looking down at me still stretched out on the bed below him. “Now, darling, I’m not apposed to being used as a distraction tonight, but I do want to know,” he said, searching my expression, "could we do this again sometime?” 

I smiled at him, and sat up to give him a sweet, slow kiss. “If I’m being honest, I’ve been thinking about this a lot more than just tonight. If it’s okay with you, we can definitely do this more often. Sorry if I was too flippant earlier, I really do enjoy your company.” 

The flush that was fading from his cheeks brightened again, and he looked away sheepishly. I let out a laugh and laid back down onto the bed with a bounce. “And I wouldn’t mind next time being the one to make you so flustered.” 

He swallowed, still having trouble meeting my gaze. But he gave a nod as his ears reddened further. “You’d really do that?”

“I really care about you, Julian. You deserve to feel happy and loved.”

He looked at me with a shocked fondness. “Thank you, darling. I—thank you.”

Laying on the bed I opened up my arms, gesturing for him to lay with me. He gave a soft laugh and fit his tall form into my small hug. I gave him a kiss on the forehead. 

“Stay here tonight, love. We’ll talk more in the morning.” 

“Alright, darling,” Julian murmured sleepily in my arms. 

I waved one of my hands to extinguish the candles in the room, and settled into sleep with Julian in my arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Please let me know if you liked it! Additional chapters may come with Apprentice/Julian/Asra if that sounds interesting, and I'll update the tags then if so. 
> 
> You can find me on tumblr @ver-writes


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